Siphon valve for water-closet tanks



"Feb. 17, 1931. c. B. BARNITZ 1,792,624

SIPHON VALVE FOR WATER CLOSET TANKS Filed March 5. 1929 v, 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 21 i v l I V I 9 4 17 .9 W lulu!" I f i. W9

INVENT R. Clzarlesliflarlai/z,

AT ORNEY Feb. 17., 1931. c. B. BARNITZ 5 SIPHON VALVE FOR WATER CLOSET TANKS Filed March 5, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Charles B. Barium,

ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 17, 1 931 CHARLES nannrrz, or; BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA s rnon -vanvn ron warnn-cnosnr TANKS Application filed. names, 192:). Serial No. 3455.15.

Thi i v n ib elat -t0 valve o tan s, andn ore particularly to .valvenmeanstorthe flush. tanks of Water. closetsadapted to. int: 7

ia iPhQ li t n r i eha 'ging hematents of: the, tankinto. ,a water closetbowl. V The. advantages oi siphon discharge .nieans for tanks of this character are-well known and numerous attempts. have ,heretotore been madetopro-vlde mechan sm in a slphon struc i= ture which will positively and unfailingly i'nitiate siphonic discharge of thewaterlinla tank and which will be free trom. the defects commonly inherent in such devices. 7 i

It .is one object of my present invention to provide .a novel type 0t plunger-which shall be exceedingly simple and inexpensive. in

construction-and positive in operation, I A serious difficulty experienced with the types of siphon heretofore in use is their tailbottom has the threaded". lower endof the 1 ure to. prevent ingressof. air into the: upper partof the shorter leg Whilethe siphon isin action, since this upper portion must be ap ertured to receive a rod connectingthe plung-. andanex l actuati g e t e like,

5 and the fitoi therod in the; aperturemust; be

qui 1.00 11% prevent bind ngx hen th od: i cps k to its Qr gi-na -.-p0.s t 0na hav overcome this defectbyainovel form of shorter leg andlplungerconstruction, ras w ill be ea resently explained.

pr aide a s nhen. wh se long r leg ex:

ernal y of asize; to fit-a; stand rd; gauge dise harge-pipe, but-whose. botezis constrited in part ta assure; initiation of siphonic. action.

ienther- Q i Qt mt pnesentiaven ieais Fig.3is-a top plan View of the valve means, pers'e; a

Fig. i.isa horizontal. sectional view,- taken along theline of Fig. 1; i

Fig. 5 is a vertical, sectional View of the invention when mounted in the tank Fig. 6' is a detail, tragrnentary sectional View of the invention, showing a modified format plunger,the latter being illustrated indotted lines; 1

.Fig. 7 is a top plan View of the form-of I plungervshown in Fig. 6 and- Fig. 8 is a sectional View ofthesarne. Referring tothe drawings, andfirst to Fig. 5, 1 designatesa Water closet flushing tank of well :known construction and of either the high or lowty-pe, inwhich the siphon valve means constructed in accordance" with the present invention. is mounted. The tank longer leg '2 of the siphon passed therethrough and equipped with a flange 3 at the upper terminal of the threaded port-ion. An ordinary tank discharge pipe 'is'provided, which is interiorly threaded to engage the 75 projecting. threaded portion .ofrthe longer leg 2. A flange 5 on the discharge pipe and. a suitablegasket 6 are provided toafford a water-tight connection between the pipe ele ments. and, the tank. The. longer leg 2 is sleeved into a cylinder 7,. which isintegral with. a dome '8, a connecting passageway 9 and a. shorter leg. 19', as. appearsto advantage inFig. 5; It will be ete tha th pas ag way cQnne -t th the shqrter leg 10 atone ,side thereof, so that h ectiw roe ses inn l are .Q -the leg 10 is. much greater atitsezgtrerneupper end than atany other portion.

The shorter leg is. open at its lower end and so is supported a short. distance, say about one inch, above. the tank bottom by a foot 11. This. shorter leg is preferably made circular in cross-section, and'oontains a complemental plunger. a

The plunger 12 may be made of n etalor. other suitable. material and has the periphery thereoiturned upwardly and in contact with the inner peripheryof the shorter leg 10. of

. the siphon. The plunger is providedwith a loo manner well known in the art.

central enlargement projecting beyond both faces of the plunger, as indicated at 13, and is provided with a screw threaded bore. The enlargement on the upper face of the plunger is formed to provide a cup, more fully hereinafter described. The screw threaded bore of the socket is adapted to receive the lower screw threaded end of a plunger rod 16, the opposite end thereof extending through an opening 15 which is formed in the closed upper end of the shorter leg 10. The upper terminal of the rod is bent at right angles, as indicated at 17, to provide a stop for limiting downward movement of the plunger, in :1

Upon reference to Fig. 5 of the drawings, it will be apparent that the diameter of the opening is relatively larger than the diameter of the rod 16, to permit the latter to slide freely therethrough.

In practice, the supply valve controlling means is adjusted to lill the tank with water to within a short distance, say one incn, of the upper end of the longer leg 2. lVith the water at this level, and with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 5, it is apparent that the shorter leg 10, the connecting passageway 9 and the lower part of the dome 8, will be filled with water, while the longer leg 2 and discharge pipe 4: will be empty. In this condition, a sudden lifting of the plunger will raise the column of water in the shorter leg and connecting passageway up into the demo 8, whence it will fall into the longer leg 2 and down the discharge pipe 4.

Siphonic action is thus initiated, which, continuing, raises plunger 12 by the convection of the current of water through the shorter leg until the socket 13 contacts with the margin of the aperture 15, as shown 1n dotted lines in Fig. 5. Further flow of water through the system is then allowed through the now unobstructed shorter leg and out of the opening in its side where the passageway connects therewith. As long as this flow continues, the plunger is held against gravity in its uppermost position by he kinetic energy of the current. Upon cessation of the flow by reason of the water in the tank dropping to the level of the lower end of the shorter leg and uncovering the. same to the atmosphere, the plunger drops to its initial. position. Meanwhile, the tank supply valve (not shown) has opened to refill the tank and the rising water tends to seek its level in the shorter leg, which is now unobstructed by the lowered plunger.

As stated above, it has heretofore been proposed to provide valve means in the plunger to permit the rise of water through the same.

According to the principle of my present invention, I accomplish this purpose by means of a small perforation 1 1 in the plunger, which provides a plunger that is simple and economical in the extreme and which of course, can never fail to function through sticking of a valve flap or failure of any moving part. It is to be noted that the diameter of this perforation is sufliciently large to accomplish the function just explained, and at the same time is small enough to prevent passage therethrough of any great volume of water when the plunger is given its lifting stroke. I have found that a perforation with a diameter of about one-tenth that of the plunger gives excellent results.

It will be noted that two forms of plunger socket 15 are shown in the drawings, both provided with a half-round upper surface, butin one form this surface is concave, as at 18 in Figs. 4 and 5, while the other form, appearing in Figs 6, 7 and 8, has a convex half-round upper surface 19. It will also be noted that two types of aperture 15 are illustrated; that used in combination with the concavesurfaced socketbeing a plain cylindrical perforation; and that shown in combination with the convex topped socket being conical, flaring in its lower portion, as at 20 in Fig. 6, to provide a seat for the convex surface 19 of socket 15. I have found that either combination of socket surface and aperture is effectual in preventing ingress of air through the aperture 15 when the plunger 12 is in its uppermost position while siphonic action is taking place, but in practice I prefer the combination of concave socket surface 18 and plain cylindrical aperture 15, as shown in Fig. 5.

As hereinbefore explained, the perforation 14 in the plunger is made small enough to allow only a very small amount of water to pass therethrough when the plunger is moved upwardly to actuate the siphon. However, it is inevitable that some water will pass through this perforation, and if the pull on the actuating mechanism be unduly slow and gently, there would be danger that a longer leg of standard uniform inside diameter might not become sufliciently full of water to start the siphonic action. To obviate this contingency, I have provided a constricted portion 20 in the longerleg, as shown in Fig. 5. This arrangement sufficiently reduces the cross-sectional area of the longer leg at this point to enable even a relatively small volume of water gradually introduced to start siphonic action, while at the same time the external diameter of the threaded lower end of the leg 2 is large enough to engage a dis charge pipe 4 of standard gauge. Vfith such a form of longer leg it will be apparent that advantage may be taken of all the benefits of a plunger having an aperture 14;, as above explained, without incurring any of the disadvantages which might otherwise be attendant upon this construction. It will be apparent, also, that while this novel type of longer leg is admirably adapted for use in connection with the novel plunger which forms one element ofmy invention, it may also be advantageously used in any siphon where the Volume of water lifted in r the shorter leg may at times be lessthan that necessary to initiate siphonic action through a longer legof uniform internal diameter.

n An afterfill spud, kept normally capped,

may be provided in the top of the dome 8,

at 21, as is sometimes required by city plumbw ing regulations.

' his to be understood that I have shown and described my invention in only one form of embodiment. Modifications will readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in the 15 art to which this invention relates, but all such modifications are to be considered with the spirit of my invention and the scope and purview of the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

so In a siphonic action water closet 'tank, siphon creating means including a long and a short leg,a passageway placing the tops of the legs in communication and having a relatively large perforation therein in alignment 5 with the axis of the short leg, a plunger mounted in the short leg, a rod connected to the plunger having a diameter substantially less than that of the perforation and passing through the perforation to provide means for reciprocating the plunger, in combination with an enlargement on the rod to make fluid tightengagement with the passageway ad- .jacent the perforation, the inner surface of thelong leg being provided at a point intermediate its ends with an inwardly and upwardly projecting flange to abruptly constrict the bore of said leg,'said bore being narrowest at said flange and gradually widening from the flange to the outlet of said leg.

as CHARLES B. BARNITZ. 

